Well pumping equipment



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WELL PUMPING EQUIPMENT BenjaminH. Lybyer, 526 W. th St., Casper, `Wyo.

. Filed Jan. 4, 1960, SelxNo. 441- A 1 Claim. (Cl. 10S-203) Thisinvention relates to oil well pumping equipment, and more particularlyto an oil, gas, and sediment separator for use in oil wells, andcorresponds generally to Zth'e type disclosed in my prior United StatesPatents l,- 698,444, issued July 16, 1925, and 2,345,710, issued April.4, A1944. In particular, the device of the present inven- `provedseparator for use in oil wells, which separator Vmay bereadily/disassembled for cleaning purposes and may be reused many times.

"These and further objectsl and advantages will become .readily apparentto those skilled'in the art upon reading the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a radial sectional view of an oil well casing illustratingthe preferred form of separator disposed in working relationshiptherewith;

FIGURE 2 is a radial sectional view of the preferred form of couplingmember shown on an enlarged scale; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly to FIG- URE 1, the preferredform of separator 10 of this invention is shown installed in workingrelationship within an oil well casing 12. The separator 10 comprises anouter elongated tubing section 14 having a diameter substantially lessthan that of the well casing. The upper end of an outer section 14 isexternally threaded to receive one end 16 of a tubular coupling member18. The other end of coupling member 18 may be suitably threaded todetachably connect the separator `10 to a working pump barrel 22extending downwardly within the well casing 12. The lower end of outertubing section 10 is also exterior-ly threaded to receive one end 24 ofa tubular coupling member 26. The other end 28 of tubular couplingmember 26 is suitably threaded to receive a plug means 30. Plug means 30preferably comprises a section, or sections, 32 of tubing which may besuitably connected as by the threaded sleeve 34 as desired, to increasethe length of the plug means, depending upon the depth of the well. Thelower end of the bottommost section 32 is closed off by a bull plug 36so that the tubing sections 32 and plug 36 define la. sediment trap 38.Concentrically arranged within outer tubing section 14 is an innertubing section 40 having a diameter less than the diameter of the outertubing section to define a iluid passage 42 therebetween. Inner tubingsection 40 is corrugated or pinched at axially spaced positions 44 toprovide a plurality of axially spaced interior restrictions 46. Innertubing section 40 is mounted within outer tub- Ving section 14 by meansof the coupling members 18 and Referring now to FIGURE 2, tubularcoupling member 18 is internally threaded at each of its ends 16 andrespectively so that the end 20I may threadedly receive pump barrel 22and the other end 16 may threadedly receive the upper end of outertubing section 14. Coupling member 18 has an integral thin radial webportion rates Pa-tency 3,004,497 Patented Oct. 17, V1951 Y ice one endof a sectional tubular Yadaptor 54 comprising tubular sections 56joinedtogether as by a slip fitting. The

Supper end of the adaptor 54 is exteriorly threaded in j.order to bethreadedly connected to axial bore 52 of coupling .18.. The lowertubular coupling member 26 is in all respects similar to upper couplingmember 18, and

pling 18 sotha't the llower, endof inner tubing section 40 posed insurrounding relationship to outer tubing section 'j 14 at a positionbetween its ends and between coupling members 18 and 26. The packer 58may be secured to 'the outertubing section 14 by means of a tubularsteel thimble 60, or any other of the wellknown means. Outer tubingVsection 14 has diagonally opposed apertures 62 located adjacent to andabove the packer 58 but substantially below coupling member 18.

With the various elements of the separator thus assembled and mountedupon the pump barrel 22, the separator is moved downwardly within theoil Well casing 12 until the bore 50 of lower coupling member 26 isdisposed beneath the surface of the uid within the well. The packer S8being in firm engagement with the walls of well casing 12, provides ahuid-tight seal between the well casing 12 and the separator 10. Inoperation, then, with the parts assembled as described above and theseparator 10 disposed within the well casing, oil, with gas and sedimententrapped therein, enters the separator through the bore 50 in the lowercoupling member 26. The oil, gas and sediment may then only follow apath through the T passage 513 and upwardly within inner tubing section40 towards upper coupling member 16, under well pressure. As the mixediluid passes upwardly within the tubing `40 it encounters the pluralityof spaced restrictions 46 which effect a partial separation of the gasfrom the oil and sediment. As the mixed uid continues its upper movementwithin inner tubing section 40 and adaptor 54, it then passes into the Tbore 58 therein and out the bore 50 in the radial web 48 of uppercoupling member 18. Gas, which has been liberated from the oil andsediment, passes outwardly from coupling member 18 through the bore 50'and then upwardly within well casing 12 outside of pump barrel 22. Theoil with the sediment entrapped, similarly passes outwardly through thebore 50 of upper coupling member 18 and then falls downwardly betweenwell casing 12 and the outside tubing section y14 until it reaches thepacker 58; whereupon, the oil and sediment collect and ll the spacebetween well casing 12, packer 58, and separator 10. When the pump (notshown) is activated, oil, with the sediment entrapped, enters throughthe apertures 62 of outer tubing section 14 and into the passageway 42surrounding inner tubing section 40. Oil is drawn upwardly within thepassageway 42 by the negative pressure created by the pump and passesthrough upper coupling member 18 and around its radial web 48 into thepump barrel 22. The sediment, which falls out of the oil, passesdownwardly Within the passageway 42 between outer tubing section 14 andinner tubing section 40 and through the lower coupling member 26 andpast its radial web 48 into the sediment trap 38. When the sediment trap38 has become filled such that the sediment begins to back tages, are'successfully achieved. As various Apossible embodiments may be made ofthe mechanical features of the aboveinvention, Vall without departingfrom the'scope thereof, it is to vbe understood that all matterhereinbefore setf'orth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

A device for separating gas and sediment from oil in a well having acasing and pump barrel 'disposed therein comprising: an outer'tubularmember; an inner tubular member concentric within said outer tubularmember; said members being of substantially equal lengthfthe inner Wallof said outer tubular member and the outer V.Wall of said inner tubular.member comprising va uid passage, said inner tubular member having aplurality of Vinwardly projecting corrugations deningaxially spacedrestrictions on the inner surface thereof whereby small Ventrained gasbubbles are caused to coalesce into larger gas bubbles for subsequentseparation from the Well fluid; a rst tubular coupling having a radialweb therein, one `end of said coupling secured to said pump barrel,

the other end of said coupling secured to said outer tubular member,said web including a first bore therein in communication with the`exterior' of said coupling and an axial bore in communication with saidrst bore and the interior of said inner tubular member; a second tubularcoupling having a radial web and secured at one end to said voutertubular member, said'web including a first bore in Ycommunicationwiththe exterior of said coupling and an axial bore in communicationwith said rst bore and the interior of said inner tubular member, saidfirst/bore providing an inlet for the Well uid; plug "means secured to-the other end of ksaid secondcoupling; Va `packer surrounding saidouter tubular member Aand 4adapted to seal with the well casing toAiiorm'a sediment trap, and apertures `in said outer tubular memberspaced "above said packer'to provide communication between "the interiorof said outer tubular member and .the interior 'of said casing so thatgas free Well iluid is allowed to pass to rsaid pump,v l e i'References'Citedin the lile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS`l`1,514,200 j Chrisman Nov. 4, 1924 1,603,675 Folsom et al. Oct. 19j,1926 1,674,815 A Barnhart June 26, 1928 2,014,562 Foggan Sept. 17, 1935i 2,525,233' `Mi11er l Oct. 10, 1950 l Munk Oct; 3l, 1950

